How to compete in the education marketing space

Education marketing is a crowded space and sometimes it can be difficult to make yourself stand out.

Fortunately, there are some tried and true steps that can help you rise to the top of the heap, whether you're in the collegiate arena or are on the side of education for educators. Let's go into why awareness, quality, and value are your best friends when it comes to earning respect and recurring revenue in education.

By the numbers

The education marketing sector stretches well beyond colleges alone. Some education platforms provide courses online and others work with educators on the reform and continued education of the sector as a whole. However, it's hard to ignore the headwinds that have hit traditional collegiate institutions since the pandemic, and even before.

According to Deloitte Insights, 1.23 million undergraduate students have gone missing (a 4% decline) since 2020.

This metric isn't just due to the pandemic though, students aren't completing high school at the same rates they used to either. At this point in time approximately 45% of Americans from the ages of 16-24 aren't enrolled in any form of school.

What does that mean for those responsible for marketing education? A tighter market with potential learners that are seeking more out of their degrees, or at minimum, better alignment or outcomes after they graduate.

Education insight: Deloitte found that "one in three bachelor’s degree recipients don’t feel their education was worth the cost."

Today's education marketers must be better than ever if they want to remain relevant. Here are some ideas that can help you improve.

1. Optimize your website for conversion

Your website is an essential part of your education marketing strategy. Arguably, it's the most important part. Why? Because even if you run a successful paid media campaign, it needs to drive somewhere, and if people don't have a good user experience, they'll bounce, literally instead of converting.

Some ways that you can optimize your website for conversion include:

• Using plenty of calls-to-action (CTAs) that are specific and use active verbs.
• Taking the time to write actionable copy that excites your audience.
• Placing value on helpful user journeys.

2. Run always-on marketing campaigns

Too many institutions cut awareness campaigns when economic storms begin to blow. This kind of choice makes a difference to the bottom line in the short-term but ultimately results in a dry funnel when the weather has passed.

Even if it's not huge, we recommend putting a solid percentage of your marketing budget into what we call "always-on" campaigns so that your education brand will remain top of mind with your audience. While results aren't always immediate or directly attributable in a short-term sense, this strategy means that when your ideal audience is ready to convert, they consider you as opposed to a competitor.

Per ZoomInfo, "High-growth organizations report an average of 16 touchpoints per prospect, within a 2-4 week span." As you can tell from that statistic, it takes quite a few tries to make an impact, even if those tries are active or sales-based. If you aren't using a combination of awareness and heavy-up campaigns, you're likely not in the running at all.

3. Signal market differentiation

In order to set yourself apart, it's important to push your differentiators. Dive into your key features and accentuate them in any way you can.

One great example is hard-to-earn accreditation levels or placement metrics that your competitors don't have. These items signal quality and show people the investment they're making is worth it.

4. Know your target market and focus on that

It sounds obvious, but different people have different, highly defined opinions about what they want from their education. Don't create content for everyone. Instead, find out your audiences' pain points and what excites them and focus only on those things.

The fact is, you can't please everyone. What you need to do is focus on the group that you align with best. That is where the ROI lives.

Key insight: To be truly successful, education marketers need to face the uncomfortable fact that school or educational organization goals may not always align with the ones that their target personas have. You must find the intersection of what you have to offer them and what they actually want.

5. Provide resources to drive engagement

No matter what type of education you are marketing, it's important to provide resources to encourage engagement. The more conversations and interactions you can inspire, the more people will see you as valuable.

Examples: Certifications, exclusive webinars, and academic communities are all great ways to engage!

6. Make membership valuable

Speaking of value, depending on what sector of education you're in, you may have membership levels. If that's the case, it's important to ensure that each tier gives members the value they expect. Providing distinct and helpful benefits at every level increases revenue through retained memberships and potential upgrades.

Ideas: Discounts, convention incentives, member communities, and member-only content are top options to make members see the value of your offerings.

Anything of quality takes time to build. Taking the time to create the right structure and move forward from a strong position is never a waste of time. At Imarc, we're happy to collaborate with you on how you can optimize for your audience. Let's talk!